Label and labeling



y 30, 1939- T. H. KRUEGER 2,159,993

LABEL AND LABELING Filed June 18, 1936 INVENTOR.

g? 0 Zara mm M ATTORNEY.

m me May 30, 1939 UNITED STATESQVWPATENT OFFICE 2,159,993 i I '1 Claims.

This invention relates to labels and labeling and is herein disclosed as embodied in a paper or textile label suitable for glass fruit jars and in a process of applying it.

Housewives have found the labeling of jars of preserves and jellies a laborious, exacting and messy job and have found the results uncertain, --the labels often peeled off by mere standing and those that did not peel off came off too easily when moistened or stored in cellars. Moreover, it was necessary to apply paste to a label and apply the label to the jar, or to wet a previously glue-coated label, and, in either case, to apply the still wet label to the jar.

Among the other difliculties encountered were the need of allowing a hot, newly-filled jar of preserves to cool before applying the label, the

impossibility of wiping the jar clea n with a wet cloth after labeling without the probability of loosening the label, and the annoyance of having a number of jars standing around while cooling and awaiting their turn to be labeled. Similar and other dimculties faced manufacturers who labeled vegetables and other products packed in hot tin cans, and still other difflculties faced the user of labels on bottles and jars in a chemical laboratory.

According to the present invention these and other difliculties and objections are overcome,

and a label is provided which needs no moistening or application of paste but which, though nor -mally non-sticky, becomes adhesive upon being placed against the hot jar or other heat-conducting container, and-adheres thereto, the adhesive being softened by the heat so as to cause the label tdiadhere but not become so liquid or so bulky as to permit the label to slipalong the jar by its own weight.

Thus the healt of the jar is the element which causes the normally non-adhesive label to become adhesive and adhere to the jar.

Other features and advantages will hereinafterappear.

In the accompanying drawing a jar I, having a top 2 contains hot preserves.

On. the hot cylindrical side of the jar has been laid a label 3 having a coating diagramatically shown at 4 on its back in which causes it to adhere to the glass.

Not every heat-softened coating 4 is satisfactory for the coating must remain hard, or hard enough to resist slipping, up to temperature of about F. and usually must soften to an adhesive at a temperature well below the boiling 55 point of water, and below that at which the celluthe homogeneous substance obtained when paraf- 5 fine wax of" to 132 F. melting point is heated and 6% to 30% of thin R. C. M. A. crepe rubber is dissolved in it at 200 F. in sheets not exceeding .004 inch thick, and the resulting mass is kneaded in a Werner Pfleiderer class III type BB mixer 10 and mixed until homogeneous.

It is possible to substitute gutta percha' for the rubber. Some synthetic resins and some compositions containing nitro-cellulose and plasticlzer may also be substituted for the adhesive de- 16 scribed, but such are generally more expensive and seemed less satisfactory to work with. One such is nitro-cellulose combined with glyptyl or rezyl resins dissolved in a solvent with a plasticizer, the resin being compatible with the cellulose. 20 i(grl'iher wax, such as ceresine, may replace paraf- The heat-softened coating described is adapted to be softened a second time toreset the label.

Usually one edge of the label is applied to the 5 hot .jar to center the label and then the whole label is smoothed down.

If desired the label may be applied to a cold body by rubbing it on to the body by a hot rubbing surface. 30

Having thus described certain embodiments of the invention in some detail, what is claimed is:

1. A label having a body and a heat-softenable back of normally non-sticky composition dependent upon the presence of paraffine wax and rub- 35 ber to become adhesive when heated.

2. A paper label carrying on its back a normally non-sticky composition of parafline wax and rubber, and adapted to adhere to glass when heated. v 40 3. A label having a cellulose body and a heatsoftenable normally non-sticky back adapted to become adhesive and cling to a jar when heated to an elevated temperature not exceeding 180 F.

4. The process of labeling hot heat-conducting 45 containers which consists in applying to the hot container a label bearing on its back a normally nonsticky heat-softenable adhesive becoming adhesive when heated at an elevated temperature between 120 and 180 F. 50

5. The process of labeling hot jars which consists in applying to the hot jar a label bearing on itsback a normally non-sticky heat-softenable adhesive becoming adhesive when heated at an elevated temperature between 120 and 180 F. 55

6. The process of labeling hot heat-conducting containers which consists in applying to the hot container a label having a heat-sottenable back of normally non-sticky composition dependent 5 upon the presence of wax and rubber to become adhesive when heated at a temperature between 120 and 180 F.

7. The process of labeling hot heat-conducting containers which consists in applying to the hot container a label carrying on its back a normally non-sticky composition of parafllne wax and rubber, which becomes adhesive when heated at 5 a temperature between 120 and 180 F.

THEODORE H. KRUEGER. 

